Effects of amorphous matrix on the grain growth kinetics in two-phase nanostructured films: a Monte Carlo study Original Research Article

The normal grain growth kinetics in two-phase nanostructured films consisting of nanocrystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix is studied by Monte Carlo simulations based on a modified Potts model. We show that the formation of an amorphous matrix during the film growth is driven by the energy difference between the grain boundary energy and the crystallite/amorphous phase interfacial energy. The simulation results have revealed that, compared with the grain growth behavior in single-phase polycrystalline films, the amorphous matrix can significantly hinder the crystal grain growth and thus leads to a remarkable reduction in grain size or kinetic grain growth exponent. Such a constraint effect becomes more pronounced as increasing the volume fraction of the amorphous phase, with both the average grain size and the growth exponent decreasing approximately according to a power law.